"Russian warship, go f*сk yourself": final words of 13 Ukrainian border guards
By late Thursday night, Ukraine’s state border service lost all communication with the guards. The island is believed to now be occupied by Russian forces.
As Seawanderer reported yesterday, on February 24, Ukrainian border guards on Zmiiny Island (Snake Island) were attacked by Russian forces. In particular, two ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet "Moscow" and "Vasily Bykov" and an aircraft were used. Not a single surviving building remains on the island.
There were 13 Ukrainian border guards on the island. All of them were killed after they refused to lay down their arms.
In a radio message, the soldiers were told by a sailor on board the vessel:
"This is a Russian warship, I repeat. I suggest you lay down your arms and capitulate. Otherwise, you will be hit. Do you copy?"
But the Ukrainian troops defiantly refused to give up the territory and instead replied with a defiant message of 'Go fuck yourself.'
Soon afterwards, all were killed in an aerial bombardment.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that the 13 border guards will receive a posthumous Hero of Ukraine medal for “heroically” defending the island.
Zelensky said:
“On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically. But [they] did not give up. May the memory of those who gave their lives for Ukraine live forever.”
By late Thursday night, Ukraine’s state border service lost all communication with the guards. The island is believed to now be occupied by Russian forces.